The Minstrel and the Lady
by preposterousnotion
Summary: He's just a minstrel, with big dreams of teaching the world to enjoy music. She's the beautiful daughter of Lord Russell, one of the richest men in all of Leigh-Mere, and she's used to getting what she wants.  currently on hiatus.
1. Duke Carlos is the occasion

The Minstrel and the Lady

Disclaimer: I do not own the character's from Glee.

AN: Right, so… ensemble piece, with the centre of attention being Will/Quinn because there just isn't enough Quill in the world and I can't help but write them.

OOC, AU, set in something kind of like Elizabethan England (the 16th Century?) mixed with a bit of the end of the 18th century, but with some features of other eras thrown in just for fun and games. (And bear in mind I know nothing about history, so will be using limited research and artistic license to get over some hurdles in the writing process!).

So really, really AU, with a made up time period and everything :D

Also, in fitting with the times, some names are changed (if it's not obvious, please ask).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and comments are very very welcome!

Ruby.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Duke Carlos is the occasion<strong>

"Ma'am, if I may be so bold?"

"I wish you wouldn't say that Emma", Quinn chided, frowning at her maid, "I asked for your opinion, therefore I wish to hear your opinion… I am not going to have you beheaded".

Emma's eyes widened for a brief second.

"I did not wish to offend you ma'am", she courtseyed slightly.

Quinn rolled her eyes.

"So?" She prompted, twirling once more, so that the skirts of her dress lifted, floating around her.

"It's a beautiful dress", Emma said sincerely, "And you look very becoming… I should think that your cousin Carlos will be _very_ pleased he accepted your mother's invitation as soon as he sees you".

"Now that is too bold", Quinn said quickly, narrowing her eyes.

Emma dipped her head.

"Anyone would think you were jealous", Quinn added, and the sudden blush that coloured her maid's neck was a good indication that she was right.

"No! Of course not! Carlos is a very sensible match for yourself… a little older perhaps, but a fine gentleman, some defined European features, and a fantastic infirmary of his own…"

"Emma!" Quinn snapped, letting her hair out of the rag that tied it up off her neck. "I have no interest in the man. Now stop wittering and go change! I have arranged for you to wait on his very table tonight, so be sure to look your best".

Emma blushed again, and nodded profusely, courtseyed once, and left Quinn's bedchamber.

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><p>"To a good show tonight!" Will lifted a foaming tankard and grinned round at the assorted collection of his fellow performers.<p>

"Even if it is our last", Rachel said darkly, taking a large swig from her own tankard and passing it to Arthur.

Arthur glared at her and struck her leg with his crutch.

"If I had never ridden that damn horse, I would carry you outside to think about what you have just said", he declared.

"Every damn sentence of your starts with- 'if I had never ridden that damn horse'" Finley groaned, pausing in carving some sort of mythical beast into the wood of the table.

"Don't wave that knife at me, good sir!" Arthur cried, holding up one hand in the air. "I don't think you have any right to…"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen…." Will began, interrupted by a sharp nudge and a glare from Rachel.

"Fine! Gentlemen, and _lady_… Let us not bicker now… We need to save our energy for our performance! We must be at our best if we so desire to be invited back for future occasions".

With a grumbling, the three quietened.

"I just don't understand how you think we can possibly be our best when our arrangements are much better suited to a larger chorus, with at least 3 or 4 times as many singers as we have".

Rachel was ignored.

She pouted and rolled her eyes to no avail.

"What is the occasion anyway?" Arthur asked Will, seeing the pained expression on his friend's face.

They may have been just some struggling minstrels, but this really meant a lot to every one of them, and Will most of all.

"Duke Carlos is visiting the Fabray family at the manor", Will replied, idly drawing patterns in the foam of his ale.

"This ale is foul", Finley reported, wincing as he took a large sip.

"When we have performances every night, we can buy the best ale in the whole of Leigh-Mere", Will said grandly, as he always did, and the group laughed, as they always did, because such a dream only existed in fantasy.

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><p>"Miss Fabray!" Emma gasped, shocked to see the blonde enter the kitchens by the back entrance. "What are you doing in here? If your father caught you…"<p>

"My father is not going to catch me", Quinn said pertly.

"Yes ma'am".

"Have you seen Mercy?"

"I believe she is assisting the cook", Emma replied, knowing it was pointless trying to persuade the young lady to leave. She still feared for that beautiful dress…

Quinn pouted.

"Bother".

"Duke Carlos will soon be taking his seat in the dining hall", Emma soothed her.

"I am bored", Quinn huffed.

Her eyes gleamed suddenly.

"Is there anything I could do to help?"

"Gosh no!" Emma squeaked, imagining the repercussions of her sitting aside and watching Quinn instead carry out her cleaning duties.

Quinn gave a heavy sigh.

"It is just so _dull_", she said, mournfully.

"I do not care for my mother and father's important acquaintances, or their important events, and excessive dinners…"

"What do you care for?" Emma asked gently, because she hated seeing her young friend looking so woebegone.

"I enjoy singing", Quinn admitted, "I enjoy the freedom of music…I…"

"The Duke!" Someone cried, rushing into the kitchen, and suddenly everywhere was a flurry of activity, platters and goblets and steaming pots being rushed here there and everywhere.

When Quinn looked round again, Emma had been swallowed up in the chaos, and so she set her jaw and slipped out into the dining hall from behind the heavy curtain.

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><p>"Are we all ready?" Will asked anxiously, plucking the strings on his lute absentmindedly.<p>

Finley tapped his Tabor drum in response and Rachel nodded.

Arthur retrieved his bell from the cold stone floor.

"Let's show these lords and ladies a thing or two about the glee of music!"

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><p>Please review :)<p>

( AN: what do you reckon?- should I continue it?)


	2. Trapped

The Minstrel and the Lady

Disclaimer: I do not own the character's from Glee.

AN: So I have some crazy ideas for this fic, it's kinda like a little outflow for my surplus imagination :D Also, we will be meeting more of the glee cast soon, but I'm not going to tell you who or when so it can be a surprise :P

Anyway...

Ruby.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Trapped<strong>

Quinn was unbelievably glad that the minute she made her appearance in the dining hall, the hosts and guests alike were distracted by the simultaneous entrance of the evening's entertainment.

She herself was also distracted, surprised to see such a motley collection of people, who looked nothing like the over practised jesters and painfully dull poets she was used to peripherally accepting as an aid to digestion.

There were four of them, another surprise being that one was most definitely female, and furthermore she was of a remarkably small stature, one man supporting himself with crutches, another towering over his three companions, carrying some sort of large drum.

She took her place at the end of the head table as she took in the appearance of the final member of the group.

The first thing that struck her about him was his boyish grin flashed to the nervous faces of the others in encouragement.

Just observing him made the corners of her mouth twitch.

There was something so captivating about that grin, and the way it sparkled in his eyes, even from afar, and the untamed curly hair, and the way that scruffy stubble on him seemed anything but distasteful as she would have normally felt about such decoration on a man.

She swore she blushed beet red as his eyes fleeting met hers as he scanned the audience, who had now fallen to hushed mutterings after the initial excitement of the arrival of Duke Carlos.

She cursed her fluttering heart and blamed spending time listening to the hopeless babblings of the manor's staff for her ridiculous musings on a man she had never met and would only see tonight.

Not that she really minded the chatter of the maids.

Far from it, in fact, she chose their company over the company of the numerous snooty cousins or other young ladies of the appropriate status to be deemed suitable to socialise with her.

Young ladies that would rather talk about dresses and sewing and falsely compliment each other's hair.

Besides, she learned a lot from the maids; things that would make her mother blush to hear her repeating; things that weren't anything like the Latin and embroidery she was 'allowed' to learn about.

And she would consider them her friends, not the frilly, silly girls whom her father called her friends.

No. Her real friends were the ones who wouldn't dream of telling her mother that she had been sitting on the heavy oak dining table as Mercy swept the floor in the great hall, laughing and chatting without a care in the world.

Her mother would have forty fits if she would have known.

But she wouldn't find out.

The handsome stranger cleared his throat.

"Lord Russell, Lady Judith, Duke Carlos, and family and friends. I proudly present to you… the Leigh-Mere minstrels".

The clapping reception was polite, and Quinn had to check herself from not clapping too over-enthusiastically, despite the alien urge she had to catch the curly-haired stranger's attention.

She was increasingly glad for her position at the table, facing towards the performers as they readied themselves to sing.

And she was amazed at how such a powerful sound could be emitted from such a small woman, but at the sound of _his_ warm and velvety voice she was carried to a place where she didn't have to be who she was expected to be, the gates of freedom and happiness ever closer to her desperately reaching hands.

The rich food sat like lead in her stomach.

She played with her fork absent-mindedly and tried to silently signal to Emma, but her maid's attention was fully claimed by the handsome guest she was so diligently waiting on, and she managed a watery smile at the way the red-head lingered by his side, and when she wasn't, instead sending subtle glances from afar.

The music taunted her with the life she couldn't lead, and with every beautiful harmony, the heavy fabric of her dress grew heavier and itchier, the laughs and dull chatter of the people she was trapped with become more and more shrill and annoying.

She spied Mercy making her way to the bathrooms to show a couple of guests there whereabouts, and with a last longing look in the direction of the gorgeous singer and a life of adventure and spontaneity she had no hope of experiencing, she slipped from her seat and quickly joined the small group.

"Just in there ladies", Mercy gestured, with a graceful curtsey and a smile that changed to delight at seeing her friend.

"Are you feeling alright Quinn?" she asked, concerned, as it was not proper for her to have left the table and abandon her duties as the daughter of the host.

"Yes- but you must understand that I'm not".

Mercy raised an eyebrow half-heartedly, knowing that this was to be another of Quinn's extravagant plans to alter the monotony of conforming to the rules.

"What is it I need to say if asked?" She questioned, with a lop-sided grin.

"That I was taken ill suddenly, and have gone to lie in a darkened room and must not be disturbed until I make them aware that I am recovered".

"Lying in a darkened room?" Mercy said, with a unsubtle hint of sarcasm.

"Yes", Quinn confirmed shortly.

Mercy had known her long enough to catch the fleeting sadness across her expression, and her insides twisted with sympathy.

Here was a girl that had everything and yet nothing.

She was so stunningly beautiful, her beauty known for miles around, and many an eligible bachelor had been invited to the manor, Duke Carlos being perhaps the third prospective suitor of the month, whether or not Quinn was aware of this.

And maybe a person of a less fiery personality would be content with being married to a well-connected minor nobleman, along with an enviable dowry.

But she knew that Quinn would never be happy to live this way, as somebody's _possession._ She was independent, and ambitious, and demanded an outlet for her bright energy.

"Okay", she agreed easily. "Be careful… make sure you aren't caught".

Quinn hugged her briefly, and thank goodness the ladies were still in the bathroom because this interaction between classes would most definitely have given them heart attacks.

"I'm always careful", she smiled, and gathered up the dress and ran off down the empty corridor away from the oppressive hum of the Great Hall.

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><p>Please review :)<p> 


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